Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Abstract
This dissertation examines the cultural phenomenon of mourning in relation to British Romantic Literature. In chapters on the work of William Wordsworth, Jane Austen, Felicia Hemans, and Charles Lamb, it argues that the Romantic period, as a time of increased mobility due to three revolutions, wars, and the expansion of empire, was a moment when unresolved grief became a common experience. Using the psychologist Pauline Boss’s concept of “ambiguous loss” as a lens for a new reading of British Romantic writing, and distinguishing this concept from the modern concept of “nostalgia,” this dissertation analyzes poetry, novels, and essays written by both male and female authors in order to show the pervasiveness of ambiguous loss in this period’s literature. In the process, this dissertation provides a new way of understanding the distinctively modern, elegiac mood in much British Romantic writing.
Date
10-25-2022
Recommended Citation
Nurulhady, Eta Farmacelia, ""A Sort of Pain, Which Is New": Unresolved Grief in British Romantic Literature" (2022). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 5976.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/5976
Committee Chair
Rovee, Christopher K.
DOI
10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.5976